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2012 Visitors

Buenos Aires with Alejandro

After the sand dunes, I decided to try and get to Buenos Aires as soon as possible. When I was ready to leave in the morning, I noticed once again that the tire was down. It wasn’t losing air too fast though so I decided to try and fix it with a spray I had purchased. It actually worked well, although you have to be careful as the spray will inflate the tire to about 50 psi. The liquid inside will also become like glue pretty fast and will get your valve to stick. Either way, it seemed to work. I made it like that for about 60km and then started losing air really fast again.

I stopped on the side of the road by a bus station to hide a bit from the super heat. Lifted the bike on one of the side cases and did the same thing I had done for the past few weeks… fix it.

In the bus station, there was poo in the corners. Not the best sight at all… but still better than doing the work in the sun. What kind of a person takes a dump in a bus station when there’s a whole forest behind it?!

Later that day, I stopped in another beach town. I was actually looking for a tire as mine had cracked and that was causing the flats this time. I did get a great deal on the tire down south, but I have a feeling it might have been from a batch that didn’t pass inspection. The crack in the tire was pinching the tube. I couldn’t find a good tire but I did find a nice old man with a tire fixing shop.

The gentleman was 84 years old and had been working with tires for about 70 years. He couldn’t hear a word of what I was saying, even when screaming really loud but when it came to tires, he had hands of gold.

He patched the tire from the inside and I was able to get a couple more thousand km out of it.

Then I rode up the coast to Buenos Aires. As I was getting close to the capital, the beach towns were getting more and more crowded.

Finally in Buenos Aires. As I rode into the city, the bike started hiccuping. The valves were on their last breath. With the help of the GPS, I was able to find Alejandro’s place pretty easy. Not sure if you remember, but I had met Alejandro many months before in Costa Rica. He had invited me to stay at his place once I’d reach Buenos Aires.

A couple of days later, I was able to get the bike into a shop. It wasn’t the Kawasaki shop as they were over loaded but they had suggested a mechanic who knew kawis even better than them. I was also able to find all the parts. New valves, valve seals, had the head machined, changed the distribution chain, new gasket… all for about 1100$ parts and labour…. OUCH! Meanwhile, Alejandro showed me around the city.

Alejandro, thanks again for the great times in Buenos Aires and for the hospitality! I had a great time. A true brother!

Hello Stefan this is Daniel we rode from Barras de Navidad to Nexpa the surf stop I was on the yellow BMW800GS, I keep following your trip I´m glad you´re still on the road this November will be 2 years. I have a friend in Villa Carlos Paz Argentina if you need something.
drive safe.
Daniel

Hey! It’s funny how I’m DEMANDING something from you when you have done nothing but entertain me! The thing is that I am visiting the site weekly, in hope of finding the last chapter of your incredible journey…what did you do with the bike, how did you return, etc. Are you planning to write something about that?
Regards,
Alejandro

hahaha sorry buddy…. I slacked off a bit on my blog for the last few months. A lot of it had to do with me just being lazy and neglecting it and other reasons involved some feelings… but I’ll try to finish it in the next couple of months… It was all a great adventure with nice endings… 😉

Thanks for your reply, I deeply enjoyed “Uruguay + Entrance to Brazil”‘s chapter. I need to stop visiting the site, I’m planning a two week trip with my KLR and it seems like going around the block compared to your journey hahaha.
Did you go back and started working for the man?
Hope you do well in the feelings department.